We Aren't Who We Thought We Were

We Aren't Who We Thought We Were

Things are improving
For this whole business of being
A human being.

It started with a G.
It now has a M.
The Genome was a human thing.
And now it has a Microbiome silver-lining.

That is those bacteria, fungi, and viruses;
Those micro-organisms that are lining our inner-beings
And interacting with our reasons for being.

We knew about that twisted double-helix strand;
That DNA-key that unlocked our destinies, it seemed.

But then they added this simple Latin prefix: epi.
And the floodgates opened: finally.

We now have epi-genetics.
But that's just half-the-battle, evidently.

Or, even less so.

Because now that epi-microbiomics has joined the show,
Our destinies seem much more like recursive mysteries.

That’s like, “Mind-boggling plasticity.”

The DNA was unwinding;
But now we're reconvening.

Convening to figure out just how all these factors
Factor into determining our phenotypes from our genotypes--

Our expressions from our encryptions.

It's all so terribly cryptic.
But it's not to fuel the cynic.

Instead we are left to recoil;
To admit that there's far more to those double-helix genome coils.

While realizing that sequences of DNA won't cement our destinies
Because it's epi-genetics and epi-microbiomics
That determine our fates at the end of the day anyways.

“But that's far too much plasticity,” you say.
And you're wondering how best to seize the day:

Take your epi-pills and say, "Today's the day I shape my destiny today."
Because we aren't who we thought we were; and that's an empowering reality.